Lately, my ZoneAlarm firewall has been popping up with warnings that
Generic Host Process for Win32 Services is trying to act as a server,
and other times wants to accept connections from the internet. The
program is svchost.exe. I keep responding with "deny". This is happening
with increasing frequency - many times a day. When I asked about this
previously, I was told ZoneAlarm keeps allowing this to happen, even if
you tell it not to.
My question is - what is svchost.exe? Is it a necessary program that I
can't just delete? This thing is really bugging me.

From Ramesh's web site: http://windowsxp.mvps.org/svchost.htm
Also: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314056

To find out more about Svchost.exe entries try Process Explorer:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sys...sExplorer.mspx

Once you have Process Explorer installed and running:
In the taskbar select View and check 'Show Process Tree' and the
'Show Lower Pane' options.
(This will provide some of the detailed info you may need)

Next expand the Process tree until 'Services.exe' has been expanded.
Next move the mouse cursor over the Svchost.exe process that you are
interested in.
Or expand the Svchost entry if you see a + sign to the left of Svchost
entry.
(You should now see a pop up with a list of services associated with the
Svchost.exe you selected)

Next double click on the Svchost.exe process that you are interested in.
The 'Properties' Window should now be displayed with numerous tabs
available.
(Two important tabs to look at are: Services and Environment)

Searching for web based information about a process:
You can also move the mouse cursor over any process, no just those
associated with a Svchost.exe process and you should see a popup
with some detailed info.
Then mouse over the specific process that's you are interested in.
Next click on that process to highlight it,
Now that it's highlighted, right click and from the options listed select:
Search Online
This should display what out there on the web about that process.

As mentioned before: You can also double click on any process
to open up a more detailed 'Properties' window.

Note: some entries like Explorer, System/Services, and
Svchost entries may need to be expanded to show the detail (sub processes),
in this case click on the + located to the left of the entry.

Another tool to try is: What's Running
http://www.whatsrunning.net/whatsrunning/main.aspx

JS
http://www.pagestart.com

"Dan Drewry" <dan@drewry.com> wrote in message
news:OjjPAw$HJHA.1088@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> Lately, my ZoneAlarm firewall has been popping up with warnings that
> Generic Host Process for Win32 Services is trying to act as a server, and
> other times wants to accept connections from the internet. The program is
> svchost.exe. I keep responding with "deny". This is happening with
> increasing frequency - many times a day. When I asked about this
> previously, I was told ZoneAlarm keeps allowing this to happen, even if
> you tell it not to.
> My question is - what is svchost.exe? Is it a necessary program that I
> can't just delete? This thing is really bugging me.

"Dan Drewry" <dan@drewry.com> wrote in message
news:OjjPAw$HJHA.1088@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> Lately, my ZoneAlarm firewall has been popping up with warnings that Generic
> Host Process for Win32 Services is trying to act as a server, and other times
> wants to accept connections from the internet. The program is svchost.exe. I
> keep responding with "deny". This is happening with increasing frequency -
> many times a day. When I asked about this previously, I was told ZoneAlarm
> keeps allowing this to happen, even if you tell it not to.
> My question is - what is svchost.exe? Is it a necessary program that I can't
> just delete? This thing is really bugging me.

If you're concerned about this warning you might want to post your question
here.

ZoneAlarm User Forum
http://forums.zonelabs.com/zonelabs

Good luck

Nepatsfan